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Holy Mackerel: Supply Chain Priorities In 2017
Dec 1, 2016 was my first day at APQC. Folks all day asked if I was drinking from a firehose yet. Indubitably I was. Actually, I moaned, it was more like having a large bucket of ice water poured over me. You know what’s coming, but not exactly sure when. Hey, my eyes were closed! Setting…
2 Common Supply Chain Management Mistakes to Avoid
There are lots of do’s and don’ts in the supply chain world and as a brand new member of the supply chain management team here at APQC, I thought that I would give a few examples of what NOT to do. Don’t be a dunce by doing it by yourself. Chances are someone has run into a similar problem to…
How Can Big Companies Keep Millennials From Leaving?
The days of staying at a company until retirement is now a foreign concept to many people—most of all, millennials. We know that millennials are more likely than any previous generation to switch jobs and that six in 10 millennials are open to new job opportunities. This is a great cause of…
Heads up! Supply Chain Disruptors Coming Your Way
There is a lot of disruption headed your way! Big data. Robotics. Analytics. Drones. 3D Printing. Collaboration with a purpose. IoT. And the list grows daily. This we know - the supply chain will change. But how is a harder question to answer. However, two groups are working to…
Port of Houston: Do You Know Its Value to Global Supply Chains?
Many of us never consider where the items we purchase everyday come from and the journey those items make to get to us. Everyday shipments of everything from petroleum and consumer goods to steel and automobiles come through U.S. ports from all over the world. Shipping goods by sea tends to be…
APQC's New Voice of Supply Chain
APQC has a new supply chain management research principal lead, Joe Tillman, and I had the pleasure of recently speaking with him. In his new role, Joe will be the voice for supply chain research, benchmarking, and process improvement. Joe has a keen interest in all things supply chain and uses…
How to Prevent a Supply Chain Fire
Supply Chain Managers are often faced with several issues that they must deal with to ensure a healthy supply chain and minimize the number of fires that arise and the number that have to be put out. Yesterday, September 9th was Fire Prevention Day. In honor of this special day, I would like to…
How to Slay Your Supply Chain Monster
Is your organization strategizing the best way to slay your supply chain monster? Your monster may be figuring out your processes, or it could be benchmarking your processes (these are the two I hear most often from organizations). Today, I am going to focus on the benchmarking monster.…
How to Not Screw Up A Supply Chain Redesign
APQC recently spoke with Murillo Xavier, one of HP’s most acclaimed supply chain strategists and author of Strategic Sourcing- Suppliers are from Mars, Customers are from Venus. During a recent interview Xavier discusses how market leaders are redesigning their supply chains in this…
Off the Chain: Supply Chain Integration Builds Trust, So Do It
The idea of organizations working closely with their suppliers to create mutually beneficial change is one APQC often talks about. These close relationships have the potential to yield benefits greater than just lower cost or a reliable source for materials. For example, organizations that…